ASUS Introduces New Desktop Replacement Mothership Laptop - CES 2019

Earth to Mothership.

By Seth G. Macy

ASUS' new Republic of Gamers Mothership laptop shows off a capable desktop replacement in a creative form-factor to accommodate the powerful components inside.

The laptop is convertible, with the keyboard and screen coming apart and back together again for several different configurations, depending on user needs. The screen stands on its own, almost like a Nintendo Switch, something ASUS says helps facilitate the flow of "more air into its advanced cooling system."

ASUS says part of the motivation for the detachable keyboard comes from watching gamers connecting an external keyboard to their existing laptop to play games. Its research showed, not surprisingly, "gamers prefer their keyboards off to the side and at an angle" when playing games.

Cooling is another big part of the design decisions behind the Mothership, according to ASUS. In order to maximize portability, it decided against liquid-cooling, since it requires a "a large external radiator" to be efficient. The upright design increases the effectiveness of air-cooling.

ASUS isn't the only company at CES introducing massive desktop replacing RTX 20-series laptops. Acer introduced the massive Predator Triton 900, a 4K 144hz beast with an RTX 2080 and a price tag of $3999 to start.

The ASUS ROG Mothership launches "Q1 2019," with pricing and availability details to be announced at launch.

For more coverage of the latest tech news, be sure to follow our CES 2019 coverage all this week.

Seth Macy is IGN's tech and commerce editor. You can find him on Twitter @sethmacy.